Nickel Creek’s third CD, “Why Should the Fire Die?” was seen by many as the group’s best effort, and a record in which the band really came into its own musically.
So last fall, when Nickel Creek members Chris Thile (mandolin and vocals), Sean Watkins (guitar and vocals) and Sara Watkins (fiddle and vocals) announced they would go on “indefinite hiatus” after completing touring commitments this year, it caught more than a few fans off guard.
Ironically, Nickel Creek’s very success with “Why Should the Fire Die?” is the thing that prompted the trio to put the group on hold.
“We’re all still so happy with ‘Fire,’ and I don’t think anybody really saw their way to making a better record than that,” Thile said in a recent phone interview. “We always told ourselves if we came to that point, we’d stop, because there’s no point in just sort of making something you’ve already done or just taking a step backwards. I think that’s what would have happened.
“We made a record that I feel, and everybody feels that’s involved intimately with this band, is the record that defines us, in ‘Why Should The Fire Die?’ We’re just really happy to go out on that note.”
Nickel Creek performs Thursday in Seattle.
Thile said he and the Watkins siblings truly don’t know what the future holds for Nickel Creek.
“It’s too hard to say,” Thile said. “I’m not going to say that we’re definitely going to come back or we’re definitely not going to come back. … It will just be a matter of feeling artistically urgent to come back together again, if it’s making a record or if it’s just doing a tour or whatever. … So that’s why we said it’s an indefinite hiatus.”
If the current tour does end up being Nickel Creek’s last hurrah, it seems likely the group has already made a lasting impact on the world of acoustic music with a progressive take that went far beyond bluegrass.
The three San Diego natives met as kids at an eatery called That Pizza Place, which sponsored a weekly bluegrass night, joining forces as Nickel Creek in 1989.
The bluegrass roots of Nickel Creek were easily apparent on the group’s 2000 self-titled debut CD, but there also were hints of a willingness to step beyond bluegrass, particularly on songs like the delicate, on-the-verge-of-pop cover of the Sinead Lohan ballad “Out of the Woods” and the old-soul country ballad “Reasons Why.”
Still, it wasn’t until the second CD, “This Side,” arrived in the fall of 2002 that the adventurous side of Nickel Creek became apparent, as ballads like “Speak” and “Hanging by a Thread” deftly straddled the lines between pop and folk and the group even did a folksy version of “Spit on a Stranger,” a song by the alternative rock band Pavement.
When “Why Should the Fire Die?” arrived in 2005, though, it represented a new artistic peak for Nickel Creek.
The songwriting was more advanced, with ballads such as “Somebody More Like You,” “Jealous of the Moon” (co-written by Thile and Jayhawks frontman Gary Louris) and “Why Should the Fire Die?” all boasting especially graceful melodies.
And while there were still hints of bluegrass, especially on “Scotch &Chocolate” and “Stumptown,” Nickel Creek further established itself as an acoustic string band that would not be limited to any single genre.
Songs from the three studio albums figure strongly in the “Farewell for Now” set list.
“We feel like we want to give people who are coming out for these shows the chance to hear the songs they know,” Thile said. “So the focus is almost exclusively on material from the last three records.”
The band’s final shows will happen in late November at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium. Thile said the group plans to film those concerts for a DVD.
After that, it will be on to various individual pursuits. For Thile, who has six solo albums to his credit, that will mean continued work with the acoustic bluegrass band that recorded the 2006 CD, “How to Grow a Woman from the Ground.”
That group, which also includes Noam Pikelny (banjo), Gabe Witcher (fiddle), Greg Garrison (bass) and Chris Eldridge (guitar), plans to record a new CD soon that Thile promises will branch well beyond the bluegrass focus of the first album. Thile is excited about the group, which will take on the name the Tension Mountain Boys with the next CD.
“I think we’re all just ready to do new things,” Thile said of the members of Nickel Creek. “I’ve got, basically, all my artistic eggs in this new band’s basket. That’s where my heart is right now, and you can’t really expect to do a great job on another project if you’re always thinking about another one.”
Nickel Creek performs Thursday in Seattle.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
